Ofwat
Legal Graduate Professional Placement Programme
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Join Ofwat’s Professional Placement Programme as a Legal Graduate
Professional Placement Programme
This is a 12 Month Fixed Term Professional Placement Programme
Office Location: London (E14 4HD) or Birmingham (B5 4UA) with hybrid working
About Us
We’re Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority – a non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating the water sector in England and Wales.
As the economic regulator of water and wastewater companies in England and Wales, our role is to enable, incentivise and hold companies to account for providing the very best for customers, communities and the environment. We also oversee the markets in the water sector to ensure they’re working for customers. Following the Independent Water Commission’s Final Report and subsequent White Paper - 'New Vision for Water', the UK government has set out a bold new direction - one that brings together expertise from across the sector to deliver better outcomes for customers and the environment.
The Role
Join us as on an Ofwat Graduate 12 Month Legal Professional Placement Programme and step into a world where you are empowered and encouraged to help us solve problems in the water industry from the very start. Our 12-month programme offers a truly versatile role, great insights into how a regulator works and excellent training, enabling you to create a solid foundation for your career.
The legal team is part of the Office of the Chief Executive Directorate. We're involved in the heart of Ofwat's work, particularly at this critical time for the water sector. We work with all directorates, embedded in the policy team's work, to help evolve and delivery Ofwat's strategy, whilst navigating and managing legal risk. We pride ourselves on providing high quality, pragmatic, solutions-focused advice, clearly, simply and concisely, sitting alongside other cross cutting teams, such as the Major Projects, Enforcement teams, working across Ofwat to enable our regulatory work.
With the opportunity to support work in a range of areas, you’ll develop a broad skillset including legal, analytical, communication, drafting, presentation, policy development and stakeholder engagement skills.
We're committed to supporting your professional development. As part of this role, you'll receive support towards SQE1, including learning and development, dedicated study leave, and the opportunity to complete the SQE1 examination. Support for SQE2 is not included within the current role timeframes. This support will help you progress towards solicitor qualification while developing valuable qualifying legal experiences within Ofwat's legal team.
This is a static role within the legal team as you will need to attain qualifying work experience as part of the programme. Although this is a static role in the legal team providing legal advice, that advice will involve working in an embedded way, with a variety of different policy teams, covering a range of Ofwat's work.
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Examples of areas of work that members of the Ofwat legal team have advised on:
- Working with Defra policy and legal colleagues to translate the wide-ranging proposals to reform regulation of the water sector into instructions for the Office of Parliamentary Counsel to draft provisions for the forthcoming Clean Water Bill.
- Advising on significant enforcement cases, including investigations into water companies’ failures to meet their regulatory obligations, which can include substantial financial penalties and enforcement orders.
- Supporting Ofwat's PR24 price review programme, including through year-long appeals to the Competition and Markets Authority from five companies.
- Working on Ofwat's in period price determinations and developing the framework for the next 5-yearly price determination in 2029, through the transition to the new regulator.
- Advising on setting up and implementing supervision style regulation prior to and ready for the change to the new regulator.
- Providing regulatory, commercial and legal advice to facilitate the delivery of major infrastructure projects.
- Supporting Ofwat's involvement in judicial review proceedings concerning environmental regulation in the water sector.
- Other areas of policy the teams advise on include class actions in competition law cases, company governance and financial resilience, data and AI.
Learning and Development
During your 12-month placement, you’ll benefit from a comprehensive blend of personal and professional development designed to help you thrive. You’ll take part in Ofwat Essentials, our core learning programme delivered by in-house experts, alongside monthly training sessions provided through our early careers team.
You’ll have the chance to deliver and support meaningful internal and external projects, gaining the knowledge and confidence to make a real impact. Your placement will give you valuable insight into how our organisation works and help you grow your creativity, leadership and strategic thinking, setting you up to achieve your aspirations beyond the programme.
In addition to ‘on-the-job' learning, you’ll have access to technical training tailored to your development needs, as well as wider learning opportunities which can include visits to water companies’ operational sites. You’ll be equipped with the tools, experiences and support you need to flourish in your profession and build a strong foundation for your future career.
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You will also be supported by a wide network of stakeholders across Ofwat, including your people leader, the early careers team and a dedicated buddy. In addition, you’ll have the option to work with one of our internal coaches, offering personalised guidance to help you make the most of your development journey with us.
About You
Below are some of the key essential experience, skills & knowledge required for this post:
- Lead Criterion: Experience / aptitude that will support you in providing high quality, timely and solutions-focussed legal advice across a number of Directorates, workstreams and projects which assists in the development and implementation of policy objectives.
- Strong motivation for working an in-house legal team which focusses on advising in the context of public law and economic regulation of utilities.
- Ability to demonstrate effective problem solving, critical thinking, decision making and information processing.
- Strong spoken and written communication skills, including the ability to write clearly and concisely.
Qualifications
- Eligibility:
- You will have at least a 2:2 degree in Law.
- As this is a graduate 12-month placement programme, you must have graduated already and have no more than three years’ work experience following your graduation.
Why You Should Join Us:
- People Centric: Our people are at the heart of Ofwat and everything we do - we ensure all voices are heard and treat each other with respect; you'll be given the autonomy and the support to do your role in the best way.
- Innovative Work Environment: We embrace agile and new ways of working and have a culture build on trust, flexibility, and collaboration.
- Development Opportunities: Gain valuable experience and develop your skills in a supportive and dynamic setting.
- Work-Life Balance: Enjoy the flexibility of working from home combined with the benefits of in person collaboration in our Birmingham offices.
- Good employer pension contributions
- 25 days’ annual leave, increasing to 30 with each year of service, plus bank holidays and an extra 2.5 days of privilege leave.
- Access to exclusive discounts on a variety of goods and services, including retail outlets, theatre tickets, holidays, insurance, and a gym membership.
- Fees paid for membership of relevant professional bodies.
- Up to 3 volunteering days per year.
- Recognition vouchers scheme rewarding your hard work.
- Generous shared parental leave and pay supporting your family life.
Follow the link to Apply for full details about the role, please ensure you have submitted your application in full before the below deadline
Closing date: 23.55 on 18 October
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